This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Aerobic exercise (AEX) intensity may be an important factor affecting the selective loss of abdominal fat when combined with a hypocaloric diet (DIET). The goal of this study is to determine the cellular mechanisms by which AEX intensity affects the loss of abdominal adipose tissue under conditions of equal energy deficit in postmenopausal women with abdominal obesity. The hypothesis is that, compared to DIET alone or DIET with low-intensity AEX, DIET with high-intensity AEX will augment the loss of abdominal fat and improvements in metabolic cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors due to greater reductions in lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity, and to greater increases in lipolysis, in abdominal, relative to gluteal, adipose tissue. We also will measure messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) levels of genes that may be involved in the regulation of regional fat storage to begin to determine how DIET with and without AEX of different intensities affects gene expression to alter body fat distribution. Identification of the mechanisms by which DIET with and without AEX of different intensities affects regional uptake and mobilization of triglyceride to alter body fat distribution will have important clinical implications for the development of the most effective treatment to promote the preferential loss of abdominal fat and improve CVD metabolic risk factors in women with abdominal obesity.